Archaeologists excavating Tell Abu Saifi in Egypt’s northern Sinai have found a sandstone lintel that names Ramesses II and refers to the ancient city of Mesn, whose precise location remains uncertain. The discovery may provide evidence connecting the site with the settlement, although researchers have not confirmed that the two locations are the same.
The find was made in Qantara East, in Ismailia Governorate, during excavations associated with the Way of Horus, an ancient military route linking Egypt with Sinai and the lands of ancient Canaan. According to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the lintel is broken into two pieces and carries inscriptions on three sides.
Several inscriptions record royal titles belonging to Ramesses II, who ruled Egypt during the 19th Dynasty in the 13th century BC. Another text describes restoration work on a statue of a deity identified as “Horus, Lord of the City of Mesn.” That wording has drawn particular attention because it may indicate a connection between Mesn and Tell Abu Saifi.
Dr. Hisham Hussein, head of the Central Administration for Lower Egypt and Sinai and director of the archaeological mission, described the inscription as important evidence in determining the site’s historical identity. Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said additional excavation and research would be necessary before the proposed identification could be established.
The mission also uncovered substantial remains of a temple, including a large mudbrick enclosure, gateways, internal chambers, storerooms, service areas and a suspected sanctuary. The complex appears to have undergone repeated construction and reuse. Researchers believe it reached its largest extent during the Ptolemaic period, between the fourth and first centuries BC.
After Egypt came under Roman rule, parts of the temple were incorporated into a Roman military camp, or castrum, thought to date to around the third century AD. Building materials were quarried from the complex, and two circular kilns were later built over the former sanctuary. Burnt limestone inside the kilns indicates that the area was subsequently used for lime production during the Late Roman period.
Two stone-paved roads from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods were also found, along with objects including a 26th-Dynasty schist statue of an army scribe carrying a damaged shrine, fragments of statues and basalt pieces depicting falcons. The discoveries point to the site’s religious, administrative and military use over several centuries, while continued work may clarify whether Tell Abu Saifi was the location of Mesn.
